South Korea to begin COVID-19 vaccination in first quarter of 2021, PM says

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (Yonhap)

SEOUL: South Korea will be able to start the coronavirus vaccination of its people in the first quarter of next year on a limited basis, according to Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.

“Inoculation will begin as early as in February or March at the latest,” he said in an interview with KBS, a Seoul-based broadcaster.

But the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca would only be available in the first half of 2021 under a current contract, not shots made by such other foreign drugmakers as Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen, he added.

His remarks came amid growing concerns that South Korea is lagging behind other nations in the procurement of coronavirus vaccines.

The government earlier announced it has secured early access to the vaccines developed by the four pharmaceutical companies.

The vaccines are slated to arrive in South Korea in stages, not en masse, starting in the first quarter, he pointed out.

Despite the contracts, there’s “no promise” on the specific dates of when they will be shipped here, he said.

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is expected to permit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine first early next year, he added.

Chung said the government launched a task force on coronavirus vaccine procurement in July, when the number of daily infections stood at around 100.

“Thus, there’s an aspect that the government did not think (at that time) about enhancing the level of dependence on vaccines,” he said.

New virus cases have soared to more than 1,000 a day recently.

YONHAP